BHUBANESWAR: A Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) team that visited Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) after murder of two forest personnel, has redflagged the exponential surge in poaching and other wildlife crimes in the core area of the big cat habitat which hitherto remained suppressed.
The report of the three-member team, headed by DG of Forests Chandra Prakash Goyal, said poor arrests in the past few years only emboldened poachers’ illegal activities in the core critical area of STR.
The scenario in Similipal South division was found to be, particularly, alarming where more poaching-related instances were reported than Similipal North. Besides, most cases have gone undetected, said the report a copy of which is with TNIE.
From 34 cases in 2019-20, the number of wildlife crimes in Similipal South division surged to 74 in 2020-21 and 119 in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. The number of cases that remained undetected in this period was substantial: 29 (2019-20), 53 (2020-21), 103 (2021-22) and 100 (2022-23). So far in 2023-24, Similipal South division reported 12 cases of which nine remained undetected. Arms and ammunition were seized in at least 112 of these cases reported in four and half years.
The Similipal North division, on the other hand, recorded 8 wildlife crime cases in 2019-20 which rose to 22 in 2020-2021, 26 in 2021-22 and 31 in 2022-23. However, most cases in this division too remained undetected. The team found numerous seizures of weapons in all these cases and most of the accused were from neighbouring villages of the STR. It also cited the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau report that many firing cases went either ‘under-reported’ or ‘not reported at all.’
“The poachers were encouraged by these activities to engage in even more poaching in the core area,” the report stated. Of the few cases reported to law enforcement wings, only a small number of arrests were made which emboldened poachers to increase their activity in the core of the area, it added. Majority of the hunters are from peripheral villages and actively participate in organised bush meat poaching. The poachers who often used bow and arrows have now shifted to locally manufactured weapons.
MoEFCC report exposes STR’s dark underbelly
However, law enforcement agencies have not filed many cases under the Arms Act and are yet to carry investigation where the country-made weapons are manufactured. A major observation in the report was tribal communities have switched from bow and arrow to locally manufactured weapons for wildlife poaching.
The team lauded present field director for placing a robust enforcement to effectively combat poaching activities. “The growth of this occurrence, which was previously not emphasised, was caused by the recent robust enforcement by present field director Prakash Chand Gogineni to effectively combat poaching activities,” the report said.
Such effective law enforcement may cause an increase in crime cases, including assaults on forest officials but in the long run help curtail overall poaching activities and ensure environmental and ecological security of the region, it said.